


Bending Pages

by DragonHoardsBooks



Series: Pages from the Bookhoard [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23822212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonHoardsBooks/pseuds/DragonHoardsBooks
Summary: Prompts originally from my tumblr crossposted here. Here be Avatar: The Last Airbender
Series: Pages from the Bookhoard [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1716337
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Brave Souls

Nature has a way of restoring balance. The Avatar is just one expression of that way; Nature has other tricks up her sleeve as well.

Two generations after the Fire Nation eradicated the Air Nomads, Nature gives a little nudge and some children in the three remaining nations are born _different_.

In a small village in the Southern Water Tribe, a mother watches as her child twirls through the storm, unfearing of the gale, directing snowflakes around in an elaborate pattern.

They are so very glad that the Fire Nation has not reached their part of the Earth Kingdom yet, when their young son throws a tantrum and the autumn leaves swirl around him.

The family has served the Fire Lord for generations and their loyalty is absolute. Until their daughter delightedly shows off the fan dance she learned, her movements ethereal, and makes the candles around her flicker.

All over the world, new airbenders are born. Where they come from, nobody knows, until they remember. Many years ago, an airbender married into the family. The talent did not get passed on after their grandchildren, or so it seemed. Instead, it lay dormant, until it was needed again.

No matter their nation or their loyalties, parents the world over agree: The Fire Nation believes the airbenders to be wiped out, and so it must remain. Their children must be kept secret, they must be kept safe.

As the children get older, some of them leave home and go searching. They have learned to control and use their talents as much as possible, but they yearn to learn more. They know it is unlikely that they find a teacher, but maybe they can find remains, scrolls, legends, anything to help them understand what they are.

What they find instead is each other. Airbenders raised in secret following the traditions of Earth, Water and Fire, all bring different ideas and cultures into their groups. Those ideas are mirrored in their bending, and as time goes by, they teach and learn from each other and form a whole.

Sometimes they find younger airbenders, still children and toddlers, and they teach the younger generation in turn. Some parents, seeing their children with those who can actually understand and help them, give the children to the adult airbenders. And the travelling groups turn into families.

Over time, each of the groups is as changing as the wind. Some settle down, they find new members, two groups meet and spit apart again. And together they built traditions, they build community, they built their own culture.

Their lives change when Fire Lord Ozai is defeated by the Avatar. There is the promise of peace, and the New Airbenders know that their time in hiding is now over. This is the moment to meet the last of the Old Airbenders, and ask him to teach them.


	2. Flares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by "Flares" by The Script

When Zuko is very little, he wraps himself in fire. He can’t make it by himself, not yet, but to pull around existing fires is easy as breathing. The brightest and somehow the warmest hearth is the big cooking fire in the palace kitchen. When Zuko is scared of his father, angry at Azula, or confused about his mother, he hides himself in a corner of the hearth so he isn’t in the way of the cooks, and lets the fire calm him. It feels so different there, surrounded by people laughing and joking with each other. There, fire is used to create, not cause pain.

The cooks and bakers try to coax him out at first, but they learn to ignore him, mostly. Sometimes they pass him small sweets, and talk kindly to him. Sometimes when things aren’t too bad, Zuko comes out. He moves quietly, and watches, and learns. And they teach him. The first time Zuko makes a honey cake all by himself, he is surrounded by people who praise him for his skill, not tell him how useless he is.

The fire burns warm.

It’s a source of comfort during his exile. The servants of the palace send him letters sometimes, tell him of what’s going on back home.

* * *

His crew is hostile at first, they want to be on this ship only slightly less than he wants to be. But Zuko knows how that feels, so he doesn’t blame them. Zuko is still quiet, learning by watching others, but also a bit more willing to ask for help. His uncle is the best teacher he could hope for, of course, but Zuko always longed to do more than using fire to fight, and here among common soldiers he learns a trick or two normal education would have never shown him. Shaping metal with fire and strength of his body is the most wonderful thing.

The fire burns bright.

It is such a relief, in the end, when he returns home to the Fire Nation and finds out that most of them survived the North Pole.

* * *

Being the Fire Lord trying to turn his nation to peace is a thankless job, full of problems and arguments. But his people know him, they remember him, so there is a pot of tea always full by his side, someone reminding him to rest, and people he can trust to send around the nation and gather news.

He can feel his people, a million little flames, giving him hope.

“Dad! Dad! Dad! Come! The sun has set!” Zuko lets his daughter drag him outside, where the Lantern Festival is ready to begin. Or the official part anyway. Most of the Caldera has been celebrating since noon. He picks up Izu, who is holding a bright red lantern. Then he turns to his people gathered in the outer palace courtyard. He knows all of their names and faces, he was there for all of their weddings and half of the births. A lot of the children whose eyes are gleaming with anticipation call him ‘Uncle’.

“My people. Tonight we send out a call to all the lost souls out in the world. A signal of home, and caring, so that they find their way again. We stand together, and we leave nobody behind.”

He lights the lantern, and Izu calls the air to push it upwards. Theirs is the first, but hundreds follow after. Bright lights in the darkness, and the promise of a new dawn.


End file.
